G2 and Fnatic have been the centre of attention in Europe for a decade. But as fans keep questioning whether League of Legends esports is dying in the West, two teams are heads and shoulders in popularity in the LEC, and it’s no longer Fnatic or G2.
Image Credits: Riot Games/LEC Flickr
As of right now, the most popular match of the LEC 2025 Spring Split is the MKOI vs KCorp match from the first round of the playoffs, with 490k viewers. Behind it come:
All five most popular matches involve KC or KOI. The playoffs match between FNC and G2 lags behind with only 320k, despite having more games than 4 of the matches on the leaderboard.
Overall, the LEC viewership is down compared to Spring 2024, which currently does not mean anything. Average viewers are down due to 2025 using BO3s instead of BO1s – airtime is significantly higher, but fans don’t care about the entirety of it, making the number of average viewers be lower (but the watch time is already up despite the split not being over).
As for the peak of viewership, it’s always attained during the grand finals, which will only be in over a week. So considering this and the fact that viewership grew from 2023 and 2024, interest in European esports isn’t going down.
But it’s changing from how it’s always been.
Since 2013, Fnatic has always been the team that Europeans cared most about, alongside a second team. M5/Gambit Gaming, Alliance, Origen, and then G2 ever since 2016. The two teams that will always be competitive, the two teams that will always be the hope of the West internationally.
Fnatic and Origen did great in 2015, followed by Europe going dark for two years, and then Fnatic and G2 did even better again in 2018, 2019, and 2020. They could compete internationally, they could beat teams, and although they almost always fell short ultimately, they had a genuine shot against every opponent, even if as underdogs.
You want to follow these teams, you want to see how they’re doing, you want to see them do even better this split to know that this time, they can challenge the best and come out on top. Or you simply can’t stand their fan bases and you want to see them lose. So you watch them, and consistently, they’re the two teams that people tune in for the most.
But then, Europe does badly in 2021 and again in 2022. Even worse in 2023 and 2024. All this time, G2 keeps (almost always) winning the LEC. Fnatic, their closest challenger, never ever manages to take the trophy from them, not once.
Image Credits: Riot Games/LEC Flickr
How many years does it take for even the most diehard (or delusional) fans to see that it’s no longer a fluke? That it’s just the current state of Europe? And how many years does it take for Fnatic fans to grow tired of watching the same story unfold again and again against G2? 4 years, it would seem.
G2 and Fnatic have no national pride, their only identity is being the strongest teams, the teams that win and can compete. They have the highest share of bandwagoners. So when they stop winning… they no longer have an identity.
Now, they’re still popular. Third and fourth most popular teams in Europe. But it’s a tall fall for the two teams that were above all others for a decade.
On the other side, you’ve got Karmine Corp and Moviestar KOI. Two teams established as the French organization and the Spanish organization. That’s an identity. An identity fueled by national casters, with the hype alongside.
People who are much less invested in esports hear about those teams. They’re their national team, if they’re from France or Spain. That allows someone to feel an interest for the team even if they’re not regularly following the scene. This is because the interest doesn’t come from the notion that “this is the team that can win,” a notion that already requires investment to know about.
This is an identity that doesn’t come and go with the team’s results. If KC or KOI don’t win the split or perform internationally, they still keep that.
Image Credits: Riot Games/LEC Flickr
Now what works fantastically for these two teams during this split is that they do also perform. This is much to the displeasure of the many people who grew annoyed at the cockiness of these teams and the disrespect of a loud part of their fan bases. However, wanting to see a team lose still means watching that team.
KC just beat G2 3-0 in the finals last split, they won Winter, they made finals at First Stand, and they beat everyone but Fnatic in Spring. As for KOI, well, they just beat KC. So, not only have FNC and G2 lost their core identity, the teams with a bolstered national following also currently have the eyes of the people who want to watch the best teams. Thus have Karmine Corp and Movistar Koi dethroned Fnatic and G2 as the most popular European teams.
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